Malaysia’s First PGA Tournament

This October, Malaysian golf fans can be a part of a historic happening as the inaugural US$6 million CIMB Asia Pacific Classic, Malaysia will be held at The Mines Resort & Golf Club, October 28-30.

The tournament is co-sanctioned by the US PGA Tour, the Asian Tour and the Professional Golf Association Malaysia. It is a limited-field event that features 40 international players with the winner taking home US$1 million. The event will be the first time that a US PGA Tour tournament will be played in Malaysia. The field is set to be filled by 25 players from the PGA Tour's FedEx Cup standings, the 10 top players from the Asian Tour Order of Merit and five players under sponsor exemptions.

Whilst there is a slim chance of world number one Tiger Woods competing in Southeast Asia's first PGA Tour event, organisers hope that Thai ace Thongchai Jaidee will qualify for the CIMB Asia Pacific Classic.
The 40-year-old Thongchai has been Asia's number one three times and has won a record 12 titles on the Tour including the 2004 and 2005 Malaysia Open. According to current rankings, three Thais are eligible for the tournament - Kiradech Aphibarnrat (seventh), Thongchai (eighth) and Thaworn Wiratchant. The field will be determined on Oct 17.

Although Woods is eligible for the CIMB event, sponsor believe the 14-time major winner will skip the tournament. Woods is scheduled to play at the WGC-HSBC Champions in China from Nov 4-7 and the Australian Masters the following week as these players do not play three weeks in a row.

The US$6 million event is for the top 25 players in the PGA Tour rankings, 10 leading players on the Asian Tour's money list and five sponsor exemptions. The winner will take home US$1 million and the last-placed player gets US$50,000.
The line-up of PGA Tour players will be announced at the end of the FedEx Cup play-offs.

(Also reported in Bangkok BizNews, Khom Chad Leuk, Siam Rath and Ban Muang)

Posted by OM on 4:55 PM. Filed under Breaking News, CIMB Classic, Feature .You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0